Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Decree

The night the Quran came down

It's late in the last ten nights of Ramadan. The house is finally quiet, you've prayed, you're tired, and you find yourself wondering whether tonight is the night. Almost everyone who has looked for Laylat al-Qadr knows that feeling.

Laylat al-Qadr is the night the Quran was first sent down. Allah gave it a surah of its own, Surah Al-Qadr (97), and in five short verses says what matters: it is better than a thousand months, the angels and the Spirit descend in it, and it is peace until dawn. A thousand months is more than eighty years, longer than most lifetimes.

The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever stands in prayer on this night out of faith and hoping for its reward will have their past sins forgiven (Bukhari 35).

Which night is it?

The Prophet ﷺ told us to seek it in the odd nights of the last ten of Ramadan (Bukhari 2017): the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th. He once came out to tell the Companions exactly which night it was, found two men arguing, and the knowledge of it was taken away. He said that perhaps this was better for them (Bukhari 49).

Many Muslims, and Turkey's Diyanet, observe the 27th as Laylat al-Qadr. Behind this is the Companion Ubayy ibn Ka'b, who was certain it was the 27th and described its sign: the sun rises the next morning without strong rays (Muslim 762). Other scholars hold that it moves from year to year within the last ten. Because Islamic nights begin at sunset, the 27th night starts on the evening before the 27th day.

The date at the top of this page is the 27th night. The wiser plan is to treat all ten nights as if any of them could be the one.

How to spend the last ten nights

When the last ten began, the Prophet ﷺ would tighten his waist-wrapper, stay up through the night and wake his family (Bukhari 2024). He spent those days in i'tikaf, staying in the mosque for worship (Bukhari 2026).

You don't need to stay awake until dawn for your night to count. Here is a plan you can keep for ten nights in a row:

• Pray Isha and taraweeh, and if you can, wake for some night prayer before suhur.
• Read Surah Al-Qadr, then whatever else you can, slowly and with its meaning.
• Make long dua in your own words and language. Keep a short list of the people and things you want to ask for, so you don't go blank.
• Repeat the dua the Prophet ﷺ taught for this night, below, as many times as you like.
• Give a little charity every night of the ten, so that some of it falls on Laylat al-Qadr.
• If you can't stand for long, sit. Dhikr, istighfar and sending blessings on the Prophet ﷺ are worship too.
• Wake someone at home and do it together, as he did.

The dua for this night

Aisha asked the Prophet ﷺ what she should say if she knew which night was Laylat al-Qadr. He didn't give her a long list. He taught her one line asking for pardon (Tirmidhi 3513). It is short enough to say a hundred times, and deep enough that you won't run out of meaning.